Long Lost, Found
by cleodaze
Summary: He knows her, somehow, but he doesn't remember who she is. Can a Music Competition helps him remember her?


**DISCLAIMER: Bleach © Tite Kubo**

** Song: Beautiful Eyes © Taylor Swif**

** You Got Me © Colbie Caillat **

** A Thousand Miles © Vanessa Carlton**

** Always Be My Baby © David Cook**

**I don't own anything other than the plot.**

** I had written this story last year but I stop because of writer's block. Then my friend came yesterday to help me with my other story and she found out about this and pursued (forced) me to finish it. I think this story is cliché, but she says it's not that bad so I did. I do a big major edit on the story, and here it is. Fun part is this story sort of writes itself.**

**Enjoy!**

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**Long Lost, Found**

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**_She was alone__ at the park bench, surrounded by three boys. They were trying to take her book. She was around his age, nine years old girl, being bullied by fifth grade boys. She was scared but she didn't show it, she even shouted back at them. From the looked of it, he knew she was a strong girl. Still, he couldn't help seeing a girl being bullied. He put his bike aside and ran up to the place._

"_Leave her alone," he said, standing in between her and the bullies. He put his face on scowl mode and narrowed his eyes, tended to be fierce. Unfortunately for him, they won't budge. They even laughed at him._

"_What if we don't want to leave her alone?" asked the fat one. Judged by the bossy attitude, he assumed that the fat one was their leader. However, he didn't care, and he surely didn't move. He curled his hands into a fist and calmed himself._

"_Well then I will make you," he smirked, hoped that will make them go away, but he would not count on it, and he was right._

"_Oh really, and what an orange haired nine years old kid like you can do to us?" this time it was the spiky haired boy who talked. He lifted his eyebrow at the spiky boy, he looked like a sick kid acted like the world is his, and he didn't like him at all._

"_You will be surprise of what I can do," he said menacingly. He was ready, ready to beat these dumb bullies to death. Furthermore, have Yoruichi as his karate sensei really brings out the rough side of him. _

"_Uh, aren't you the strongest kid, we will see about that," said the fat one and he threw him a punched at his jaws and sent him to the ground. He heard the girl gasped and the three boys laughed at him again. He wiped the blood that was dripping at the corner of his mouth and stood on his feet._

"_That is the farthest you will get, now it is my turn," so he swing his fist at the fat one's stomach. He bent forward, hands on his stomach. Without waiting, he kicked his plump leg and he fell off the ground. Next, his thin minion ran up and tried to kick his face but he dodged it, and punched the thin one's jaw, and he automatically past out._

_The spiky haired one looked at his friends who were on the ground at this moment with mouth hanging open. He looked at him and aimed his feet at his rib but he was in time to avoid it, the spiky fall to the ground._

_The f__at one got on his feet and made a second attempt to hit his face but he easily evaded it and planted another punched to his chubby cheek. He smiled at the beaten bullies in front of him; they were not that tough at all for him. He brushed his pants and his hands._

"_Now, before I lost my patient, I think it is best for you lame bullies to scatter off," he smirked, hands on his midnight blue jeans pocket. In no time, the three boys ran away from him, not before he heard a "we will get you for this!" from the fat one._

_He rolled his eyes, then its get widen as he remembered why he fought those dumb __fifth grader. He spun around at the girl and held his hands out to help her stand up, which she took it with hesitation. Then she suddenly yelled at him._

"_What are you thinking? I could have handled those kids. I'm not that weak, you know. Who do you think you are? Superman? They could have hurt you!" she shouted, flying her hands everywhere with her right hand still holding her book. _

_He scowled. Why was this girl __being angry? He helped her, she should be a little thankful to him. Then, he brought his now scowled face to hers and ready to snap back at her when his eyes fall on to her amethyst eyes. It was beautiful, and then he saw it, saw what she actually meant aside from what she said. She was scared for him, scared that he got hurt protecting her. He smiled. He took another glance at her, where he noticed she was actually small, pale skin, big amethyst eyes and she got this serious cold expression, even for a nine years old girl._

"_Hey, I'm fine. See, no injuries," he said to her._

"_But your mouth, it's bleeding," she then took out her handkerchief from her sundress pocket and dabbed it at his bleeding mouth. He was stunt to even aware of what had happen. She put her hands down and clasped it together. "I'm sorry," she murmured._

"_It's nothing__, don't you worry about it," he smiled to her._

**xxxx**

"Kurosaki, Kurosaki, wake up," says the bespectacled black haired roommate of him. Uryuu Ishida shakes his somewhat rival somehow a reliable friend and tries to wake him up.

"Yeah dad, five minutes," answers the orange haired teen.

"Kurosaki, if you miss your home so much then why you don't just go back?" asks Ishida who seem to have lost his patient.

"Huh?" finally Ichigo Kurosaki had wakes up from his peaceful slumber. He rubs his eyes and looks around the room, followed by the image of an angry roommate next. "Wow Ishida, what has gotten into you?" he dumbly asks.

"You," he simply says. "Now get up, we got class at eight o'clock in the morning, and after school practice for the big competition among art and music schools. Surely you are not forgetting it?" Ishida lifts his eyebrows knowingly.

Ichigo slaps his forehead and drops his head on his pillow, and it is enough to let Ishida knows that he is right. "Maybe I sort of, forgot it," Ichigo mumbles on the pillow.

"Well then you got fifteen minutes to get ready, I see you at class," Ishida stands and walks to the door.

When he hears the door closed, he groans. He shouldn't have played his guitar until 2 am, and now he really is going to be late for class. He gets up and grabs his towel. He opens the shower and runs the water on to his body. After five minutes of quick shower, he runs through his closet and picks out random outfit to wear. It turns out to be a green t-shirt with white sleeves and jeans. He snatched his bag and his guitar, locks the room and sprints to his class.

**xx**

As he expected, he was late. Luckily, the professor didn't give him penalty for his lateness. Now, he is minutes away from lunch and he can't wait for it, because neuroanatomyis not his favourite subject, although he does get a good mark in it.

RIIIINGGG!!

"So don't forget to send th-…" the professor stops when he looks up to an already empty room, "Them tomorrow."

Ichigo meet up with Ishida at the roof of the university. Not many people come up here, it is not even legal. But he and his friends know a way to get in and never get caught. He then sees his roommate eating his sandwich.

"Hey," Ichigo greets, and got answered with an 'uh' from Ishida. "Where are the others?" he questions again after sitting beside his friend.

"At the cafeteria, buying food," Ishida says to him. He just nods and drinks his soda he bought when he was on his way to the roof. Not long after that, his other friends consist of Chad, Mizuiro and Keigo appears with their lunch. They chatting noisily and sit around him and Ishida.

"But she is hot, I wish I got the chance to talk to her, and ask her on a date or something," says the everlasting perverted Keigo.

"As far as my interest in older women, she is pretty attractive. And as far as I agree with you on how pretty she is, I don't think she wants to go on a date with you," Mizuiro says in a matter of fact way.

"Well someone's being mean. Anyway, she is amazing with the piano, you think she will win?" Keigo asks while trying to open his soda can.

"It's not that I support her because she is from other school, but she does have talent, I don't know," Mizuiro lifts his shoulder.

Ichigo continues drinking and ignoring whatever that his friends had discussed about. He doesn't really care about them and didn't mind not to get involved in what they talked about. He didn't think about girls much, for him it is enough that he has his late mother and his two twin sisters in his life. But a sudden word made him interested.

"But seriously, that violet eyes she possessed really brings her out, and she looks really beautiful," said Keigo day dreaming.

"Nah, I don't think its violet. It's more like… amethyst. Yes, but yeah, she is hot," Mizuiro states.

Amethyst. He knew he was familiar with it somewhere, he couldn't make up where. Is it somewhere from his dream?

"Ichigo, day dreaming again? Huh, huh?" Keigo wiggles his eyebrows. "Who is the girl?" asks him again with the knowing tone.

"Shut up! I'm not you Keigo," he yells and starts his routine on beating up Keigo, thought not too hard consider he still is his friend, or not.

**xxxx**

"_So, why did they bother you?" he asked when she didn't say anything after her sudden outburst. They were sitting on the park bench__, watching the other kids who had just come to play at the playground near the park. He faced her and saw that she was looking at something in her hands. He looked at the book that she was holding. "They tried to take that book from you?" he guessed._

_She nodded. "I don't know why though, I mean, they doesn't look like someone who played music, right?" she told him.__ Just then he realise it was a music book._

_He smiled a little at her. "They just like to make people's life miserable," he noticed her swinging her feet back and forth, "You played music?" _

"_Yup! I played piano," she energetically answered. When she looked at him, he can see the happiness in her eyes._

"_Wow, why do like to play piano so much?" he asked once more, but suddenly regretted asking because now he can tell that she was sad. "Hey, if you doesn't want to-…" but he was cut off by her._

"_My sister loves piano. She would play it everyday and I would listen to her everyday too, and it was beautiful. Because of her, I love to play piano, and she will teach me everyday. One day, she died from cancer. From there, I promised myself that I wouldn't play piano ever. But then my brother said to me that I shouldn't do that. My sister would be really upset if I did. She must really want me to continue play piano for her, and that is why I love to play piano so much, that way I could talk with my sister, through the notes," she told him, and she smiled._

_He was right, she is a strong girl. She still smiled after that awful event that happened to her, although she appeared as someone who rarely smiled, but she did when she told him the story, and he respected her for that._

**xxxx**

Ichigo is on his way to practice with his music teacher, Ms Ochi, for the music talent competition that is going to be held here, at Karakura University. A lot of school representative are going to stay here due to the competition, and he can see a lot of people who got a really good talent, and he is so sure that the competition will be tough.

As he walks through the hall that leads to his music class with his permanent trademark scowl, a lot of girls, correction, all of the girls are looking at him like he is some kind of a walking gold, and he doesn't like it even one bit.

"Oh my, it is Ichigo!" shouts some girl. Then the others start to act like a very girly girl.

"Hi Ichigo!"

"Hey! Kurosaki-san, do want to go dinner with us?"

"H-Hi K-Kuros-saki-kun"

He really has no time for this, so he quickens his step and ignoring those girls. Furthermore, he is late for his practice, and he will get nag by Ishida, if that can even call a nag.

Suddenly he run through someone and he fall on the floor. "Dumb girls," he says while trying to collect his things, referring to the girls that had acting all charming which make him walks fast and hit someone on his way. Unfortunately, the person he hit thinks different.

"Say what? You call me dumb?" she asks. Her voice is low but she is angry.

"Huh? What? No! I-" but she beat him to it, literally. Next thing he know he is holding his feet after she stomp on it. "What was that for?" he shouts.

"For calling me dumb. You idiot!" and she walks away. He looks up to yell, but stops when she glances back. She is warning him, but that is not what had stopped him, it's her eyes that had stopped him, her amethyst eyes.

"Come on Kurosaki," Ishida says, coming out of nowhere, dragging him to their music class.

"Déjà vu," is all he says.

**xx**

He slumps himself on the grass at the University Park. He is exhausted, after a week of non stop practice. He doesn't know how he is still alive until now. Five hours a day, he can't even feel his fingers anymore. He leans his back on a tree and breathes in the fresh air of the park. He then put his guitar aside and tries to relax himself.

His life has always been a rush now, rush to class, rush to finish his assignment, rush to practice, he didn't get the chance to lay back and relax. He deserve it though, who asked him to take medical course and minor music course at the same time anyway? At first he can't take it both but he always knows how to make things goes his way, so now he must face the consequence.

However, he does have a good reason why he also takes the music course. It is because…

_Your beautiful eyes  
Stare right into my eyes  
And sometimes  
I think of you late at night  
I don't know why  
I want to be somewhere where you are  
I want to be where..._

And it's gone. Ichigo's thoughts are distracted by a very beautiful voice singing along with a piano, it was amazing. She sang it perfectly, even though it was only acoustic, but who? Who is she? He tries to search for it, he walks around the campus but to no avail, she is gone. But he somehow knows the voice, but where did he hears it?

"Hey Ichigo!" someone calls him.

"Huh," he turns around and sees Renji walk his way towards him. "Uh, Renji, what's up?" he asks.

"I should be the one to ask you that question. What have you been up to, sneaks around like that?" Renji looks at him. He doesn't know how to explain to Renji, so he decided to drop the subject off.

"Nothing, I was just trying to find the right spot to hang out," he shrugs.

"Well, why didn't you say so? Come on, hang out with me, Ikaku and Hisagi over there," Renji points to the place besides the big tree. Ikaku and Hisagi raise their hands to him.

"Sure, let me get my guitar first, I see you over there," Ichigo nods and walks back to get his guitar. When he had taken it, he spins around to heads where Renji are, but he accidentally knocks someone out, again. They both fall to the ground.

"Ouch, sorry I- You!" he hears. He looks ahead and sees her again, the girl he bumped the other day.

"Why do you always run in to me?" she yells, then sigh.

"Maybe if your not so small, then I wouldn't run in to you, midget," he smirks.

"Wha! What did you just call me?" she narrows her eyes. "Don't you have a better job to do then calling people's name? First dumb now midget?" she says, arm cross.

"It's not my fault you're such a small girl, and be grateful that I called you midget, not micro small girl," Ichigo says getting up. He holds his hand out, "here let me help you."

"No, I can get up by myself," she says, also standing up. "Just hope that if next time we meet, it better not be another collision," she then strides away.

He watches her walk away. He never knows that there is such a very fierce girl exists. He just on his way to meet Renji when he sees a book, notebook. He picks it up and notices that it is full of music notes and to do list and he tries to finds a name on it, but he couldn't find it. Then, when he opens to the last page, he finds a picture, picture of her, the girl he just call midget. He smiles and put it in his bag, when he sees her later, he gives it back.

**xxxx**

_After an hour of running around and playing at the park, they both sat on the swings and enjoyed the moment._

"_Hey," she uttered. He looked at her side, knowing her she got his full attention. "Can I see you again some other time?"_

_He admitted that he was surprised she asked, because if she didn't, he would have asked the same thing. He was having fun playing with her, something that he hadn't felt in a while, and he did not want it to end._

"_Sure," he said, and he gave her his rare smile. "How about we meet here every evening?" he suggested._

"_Of course," she smiled, also something that she seldom does. "I think you better go home, your family must have worried about you, especially your mom."_

_His eyes suddenly soften, his facial expression suddenly sadden. He looked at his hands and clenched it into fist, his tears were threatening to fall but he held it. She cupped her mouth with both of her hands._

"_Did I say something wrong?" she said, scared that she somehow offended him._

_He looked at her face and shook his head. He wiped his almost fall tears and said to her, "My family wouldn't worried about me; they said I'm a big guy that I know how to take care of myself. And my mom…" he paused for a while, "she died recently." _

_Her eyes went big; suddenly she put her left hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I don't have a mom too. In fact, I don't even have a parent. They died when I was a baby. The only person that I have in my life is my brother, and he sure has freak out by now if I didn't come home," she chuckled a little. He looked at her disbelieving. He was mourning about his mother's death, without realising that there are others who were aren't lucky as he was, and she still strong, even though her eyes showed the sadness that she held, she still move on with her life._

"_No, I'm the one who should be sorry," he pointed out. "Well, I guess we better get going," he stood up._

"_Yeah, see you tomorrow," she said and ran through the south stairs. She swiftly turned around and waved, which he gladly waved back, and then she was out of his site._

**xxxx**

"I think that's it for today, practice more. I know you have no problem playing guitar perfectly but improve on your singing. Don't go off keys," says Ms Ochi to him. She switches off her keyboard and packs her things. Ichigo had already packed his thing and is on his way out with Ishida until he remembers something. He signals Ishida to go off first and he will go on later. He turns around and walks towards his teacher. She is putting her notes on her bag when she realises Ichigo is still here. She lifts an eyebrow at him.

Ichigo takes the notebook from his bag and opens it to the last page. He takes her picture and shows it to Ms Ochi. "Do you know her?" he asks.

"Yeah, I know he-" she starts to say but Ichigo stops her mid sentence.

"Do you know where I can find her?" he asks again. He doesn't know why he feels happy about the possibility of seeing her again, but he knows she is different, at least different from the girls he knows. If only she doesn't kick people that often.

"Yeah, she is in the guest resident, she is one of the contestant for the-" she answers him but then stop when Ichigo is nowhere to be found. "Wow, that was fast," she shakes her head and continues to clean the room a little before she goes home.

**xx**

Ichigo had searched the guest resident twice, but he still didn't find her. Then he hears something. He hears her, the girl he heard at the park singing with piano, and he is guessing that she herself is playing the piano while singing. He follows the sound of her voice.

_You're stuck on me and my laughing eyes  
I can't pretend though I try to hide - I like you  
I like you._

_I think I felt my heart skip a beat  
I'm standing here and I can hardly breathe - you got me  
You got me._

_The way you take my hand is just so sweet  
And that crooked smile of yours it knocks me off my feet_

After that, the voice died. He is starting to wonder if she only sings song for first verse only. He sees a door at his right slightly open. He slowly walks to the door. He opens the door a little and takes a peek inside. Suddenly someone taps his back. He spins around quickly and almost fall if not for the door handle he still holds.

"Well at least this times only you who almost fall," she giggles. His eyes go wide and then narrows at her. There she is, the girl that he searched, finally showing her face. He put his usual scowl at her. He takes her notebook and shoves it at her.

"Here midget, your notebook," he says, after that he pushes his hand into his jacket pocket. Her jaw drops and she furrows her brow. She tries to make a word but couldn't.

At last she says, "How- How does my book is with you? Wait, you didn't steal it, did you?" she says with accusing eyes.

"What? No! Why would I do that? You dropped it the other day, at the park, remember?" he explains to her, tries to remind her. He scowls, what does she think? There are no reasons for him to steal her notebook.

"You better not steal it. If I found out you do I'd kick your ass off," she warns him.

"With your height, I doubt you can even reach my knee," he grins. Unfortunately for him, she already kicks his shin. "What is wrong with you? Is kicking people is the only things you know?" he yells while rubbing his sore leg.

"What about you? Is mocking people's height is the only things you know?" she shouts back at him.

"Well at least I didn't accuse people for something they didn't do!" he towers above her.

"You idiot!"

"Midget!"

"Carrot… uh, top!"

"What? You evil micro size girl!"

"You call me what? You over grown moron!"

"Enough!" they both look to the left where a very angry boy stands in anger. Ichigo didn't recognize him, he sure didn't have a friend that is short and have white colour for hair, so he presumes that he is also a guest here, but from her looks he bet she knows him. Now he really doubts that she and that white haired shorty even past high school. Are they coming from a dwarf planet or something?

"Hey Toushiro, what's up?" she half smile.

"What's up? You guys shout like there is no tomorrow. Also disturbing our peace and calm, and you don't even notice that the whole building looking at you too! And you ask me what's up?" that Toushiro boy shouts. Just then Ichigo takes in the surrounding, and true enough the whole building is looking at them. He put the best scowls that he could make and give the ultimate glare at them. He knows he shouldn't have return it here, he should have asks her to go somewhere else.

"Well, what ever. I'm going," Ichigo says, only wanting to get out of there and lay on his soft bed. "Oh, and midget, don't drop your things again. I don't have time to pick your stuff and search for you," he says and walks away. Though he swears that he hears her mumbles, 'No one asks you too, idiot' yet he let it go. But the weirdest thing is he is smiling all the way to his room.

**xx**

Ichigo is practicing his singing with his guitar when Ishida comes into their room.

"Preparing for tomorrow eh?" asks Ishida. He puts his bag beside his bed and sit on it, facing Ichigo who sit on his bed opposite of him.

"Uh," he replies.

Then Ishida's eyes shifts form his face to his bruise legs. "What happen to your leg? Oh let me guess, she kicks you again?" Ishida smirks, "I observe that you had argued a lot with her for the past two weeks since she arrived. Is this some sort of your form of PDAs?"

"What? Urgh, shut up!" he snaps. But then he thinks, what is the trouble? He better just tell him the things that he had in his mind that he still confuses. Maybe Ishida can help him figure it out. "Hey Ishida, have you ever felt like you know something or you have seen something but you don't remember what it is?"

"Huh? You mean like déjà vu?" Ishida leans on the wall.

"Exactly," he nods.

"Well, to be honest, no," Ishida fixes his slightly fallen glasses back to its place. "But obviously it exists. Why Kurosaki? You experience it?" he questions.

"Sort of, I don't know. I feel like I know something, I see something that I recognize, but I don't know what," he explains.

"Well, I guess you just have to find out what it is, I'm sure you will, sooner or later," Ishida concludes. "I want to take a bath," he grabs his green towel and stands up, leaving the more puzzled Ichigo in the room.

**xxxx**

_They ran through the playground playing happily together. He really felt at ease w__hen he was around her, she knew him more than any of his friends. He started to run to the slides when she shouted at him._

_"Hey, let's go to the swing!" she pointed to the swings. He really can never say no to her, but arguing with her was always fun._

"_But I want to go to the slide," he stated. Then suddenly her face turned from cheerful to sad. He scowled his face. Did he say something wrong? He slowly walked towards her._

"_You know, today is my last day playing with you. Could we at least play the swing for one last time?" She said, or more like begged. He was surprise by her sudden words._

"_What do you mean?" he said, demanded for answers._

_She walked to the swings and sat on it. He copied her action and sat at her left swing. She took a deep breath and faced him._

"_Thanks for being a very best friend for me, it's been a very fun one year and a half for me," she chuckled. "I never thought I had a best friend like you, really," she continues to rambling again._

"_Can__ you cut to the point already," he said, almost lost his patient._

_She pouted a little then suddenly she smiled. "My brother had this huge business, and he is expending his authority to somewhere else, or so he said. So… we're moving," she finally told him the truth._

"_What? When?" he asked some more. She was leaving? If it's true, then he would lost his best friend, the one that make him smile, the one that make his day seem more fun._

"_Two days from now. I know, I will be going to miss all this, I'm sure going to miss you," she kicked his leg lightly._

"_Yeah," __he says slowly. He never expects her to be away from him, he always thought that she would always be there for him. Now, he doesn't know what to expect anymore. Suddenly he felt his hands being pulled. She took his hand and smiled._

"_Hey, if I got the chance, I'll try to ask my brother to visit you, or something," she said assuring._

"_Yeah, sure," he said. He saw her starting to swing. Doesn't she's sad that she was moving, she seemed happy. However, when he captured her eyes, he knew, she was as sad as he was, maybe even more. He thought maybe he should enjoy this last day with her, while he still have the time._

**xxxx**

The scenario at the backstage is really a chaos. Everybody is rushing to prepare for their performance, including Ichigo. The teachers and students who are in charge of the competition are really busy doing their job to make sure everything goes as plan, and nothing will go wrong. Tatsuki, who is given the job as a host, had already started the competition. Ishida who will have a violin performance starts to check on his instrument. Same as him, Ichigo strums his guitar to check it, whether it is in the right note or not. He admits he is nervous, but it's normal to get nervous, so he tries to calm himself by strums a few simple notes.

Ichigo is unaware of a little commotion at his back, totally absorb by his music. Almost all of the people are looking at the back entrance. Ishida taps Ichigo's shoulder and signal him to look at the back. He turns around and looks at the people who seemed to surround something. Then it comes to view when they step back to let her through.

She walks with full of glory, looking amazingly beautiful in her white straps dress that reach her knee. Her usual stern face strike out her confidence attitude, with her hair is done into a messy bun, with her stubborn bang still in its place. He couldn't take his eyes off her, and to make it worse she looks really familiar to him.

She is aware that he is looking at her. She somehow happy that he is not just look, he is staring at her, and he somehow reminds her of someone she knows, but only if she knows who. She stands in front of him, snapping her fingers, twice, but he didn't respond. Last effort, she claps her hand as hard as she could.

"Huh," he says after being snapped out of his trance. He looks at her. She has her hands on her hips.

"Staring people is not nice, and it is scary," she smirks. He glares at her, and tries to save every dignity he has left after staring at her too much.

"I'm staring because I never thought a midget like you could find a dress. Where did you get it? At kids department?" now, his turn to smirk. Bad move because he only pulls the trigger of her anger. And what did he get for the price? A very, very hard kick at his knee, sending him down to the floor, for the millions time, really he lost count.

"Could you stop mocking me for a second?" her face red from rage, making her beauty even more outstanding. He frowns, thinking that he had lost his bad boy image for even think of something like that, oh, and his mind too. He covers this up by doing another useless argument with her.

"Could you stop kicking me for a second?" he shouts.

"You started it!"

"Me? You kicked me!"

"You deserve it."

"Hah, I deserve it? Do you even have a brain?"

"I got a brain alright, that's why I kicked you! Only insane people would not want to kick you."

"And only insane people would not call you midget."

"Are you two done?" they hear someone shout. When they look who it is, no surprise it is again Toushiro, and Ishida too who shout.

Ishida fixes his glasses and says, "We have a performance to do, and competition to win, so I highly grateful if you two shut up and just get ready for your performance."

He looks at Ishida, and says "Yeah, yeah," and resumes his tune check on his guitar. Uryuu is right, he has to go through this competition first, argue could wait, so Ichigo concentrates again on his preparation for his performance.

"Yes, and Rukia, your turn will be next," says the cold Toushiro.

"Oh okay, okay," she rolls her eyes and goes with that Toushiro. "I don't know if I had tell you this or not before, but you make me feel like I have a father," she giggles.

"I think you did tell me, uh, for the… jillions time already," Toushiro says, starting to get irritated. Then they hear Tatsuki called for her.

"That's me," she says and walks to the stage and begin her performance.

**xxxx**

"_Just a minute. He will come," she said._

_They were in front of the house, things had been packed in the car and ready for leaving, but she promised to wait for him before she left. But where was he? He also promised to see her for the last time but didn't show up until now. Her brother kept giving her the look, and if he didn't come in a minute, she might have to leave without seeing him._

"_We are going to be late, and you know how I hate being late," her brother said coldly, standing besides the car._

_She was going to beg for another minute when she heard he was calling her. She turned around and saw him running with his dad behind him._

"_You were late. We almost leaving you know," she rolled her eyes._

"_Yeah, yeah, I know I was late," he said. He was glad that he made it; he almost thought that she had left him. "But I have a good reason for it," he said. He took something from his pocket and gave it to her. It was a Chappy necklace, and at the back of the Chappy pendant, there was a writing carved with 'I & R'. "It took me everything to get it, including washing my dad's car to make him help me buy that thing," he explained, with a small smile that he saved for her._

"_It was beautiful, thank you," she said and hugged him. He never saw that coming, he was a bit shock, and nevertheless, he hugged her back. Then, he released her and said, "Do you need help with that?"_

_She nodded. He took the necklace and put it on her neck and clasped it. She turned around facing him, "I know it will be perfect on you," he told her._

"_It was perfect, my dear, no, my daughter, no, my third daughter," said his dad. He put his hands around her brother's shoulder and said, "We are going to be family someday."_

"_I really hope that will not going to happen," emotionlessly her brother replied. "Ten minutes, no more, no less. I will wait in the car," his driver opened the door for him, and he got into the big black car._

"_Yes brother," she said. He pulled her away from the car; he only had ten minutes more._

"_Now I know where you get that cold face from," he smirked. _

"_Shut up," she narrowed her eye at him, but he only smiled back._

"_Hey, I just want to say that you are a good friend and I hope we will see each other again," he told her._

"_Yeah, me too," she smiled. After that he remembered something. _

"_Hey, can I hear your voice, for the last time? The song that you sang to me the other day," he asked, requested._

"_What? But- Oh alright," she__ shrugged. After that, she started singing, and as he always expect, she sang perfectly. He loved it when she sang, and she sang to him everyday when they play together, now she was going to sing for him one last time._

_If I could fall  
Into the sky  
Do you think time  
Would pass me by  
'Cause you know I'd walk  
A thousand miles  
If I could just see you  
Tonight_

"_Happy now?" her eyebrow lifted. He nodded. "Good, cause I need to get going now," she said. __She hugged him again and walked away towards the car. She waved at him, and he waved back. Then she got into the car, and the car started to move, away from here, away from him. He stayed where he was until he could never see the car anymore._

**xxxx**

…

_Staring blankly ahead  
Just making my way  
Making my way  
Through the crowd_

_And I still need you  
And I still miss you  
And now I wonder...._

_If I could fall  
Into the sky  
Do you think time  
Would pass us by  
'Cause you know I'd walk  
A thousand miles  
If I could just see you_

_If I could just hold you  
Tonight_

Claps and shouts are heard. People are standing after she sang, it is beautiful. She takes a bow and said thank you, giving her smile to everyone and makes her way backstage. At the backstage, Ichigo is stuns. His eyes widen, he is in shock. He couldn't believe it actually happen. Then he sees her, making her way to take a second to relax after her performance. She goes to a chair to sit when he rushes to her and holds her shoulder tight. He can see that she is surprise. He sees the necklace in her neck, which tells him that his guess is right. Before she tries to say anything, he already asks her first.

"Why did you sing that song?" he blurts out.

"Huh, why did you want to-" she tries to say but he only tighten his grip and cut her sentence.

"Just answer the damn question!" he now in the stage of shouting.

"Because the song means something to me!" her face is calm but her eyes tell him different, tells him there is something more.

"And where did you get that necklace?" he says, looking straight in her eyes. He already knows the answer, but he needs to hear from her.

"Why do you even care-" she again starts to question him, confusion surface in her gorgeous features.

"Please," he doesn't care if he sounds like he is begging, he doesn't care to the fact that the whole people at the backstage are looking dumbfound at them, he needs to know.

"No, it's personal-" again she can not finish her sentence.

"Is your friend gave it to you, the one you met when he saved you from being bullied by fifth grade boys, and after that became your best friend, played with you in the park every evening, and always sing that song you just sing, and when you had to move away because of your brother, he gave you that necklace with a writing 'I & R' at the back of it, hoping that someday he will meet you again?" he cries out all in one breath. He sees that she is speechless; her mouth hangs open and her eyes starts to tear.

"Ichigo," she breathes out. He hugs her tightly as ever, finally found his lost best friend. How could he be so blind? All the clues are in front of him all along, short, pale skin, strong girl, plays piano, and her amethyst eyes. But he found her, at last.

"I thought I never see you again, I thought I lose you forever," he whispers to her, "Rukia."

"Me too," she says and hugs him back, sobbing hard in his shirt.

"After this, you will never walk away from me, you hear me? I'm not gong to allow you," he says.

Although she is sobbing hardly, she still is Rukia. "What? I'm not taking orders from you; I'm not even your girlfrie-"

"You are, Rukia. You are my girlfriend. You'll always be," he smiles; the honest smile that she always waiting for. She breaks down again, grabbing his shirt and hides her face. If her brother finds out she is out of control, she is finished.

"Uh, Kurosaki, I'm really happy that now you figured out your 'déjà vu' problem, but you still have a performance to do," says Ishida, handing him his guitar. He nods to him, taking his guitar from Ishida. He lets her go, wipes away her tears with his thumb.

"This is for you," he says. He hears Tatsuki calls his name. He looks her straight in the eyes, and slowly moves to her lips, and gives her a quick kiss on the lips and goes to the stage to do his performance.

He sits on the edge of the centre stage, and says "Rukia, you will always be my baby." And he sings his heart out.

_We were as one babe  
For a moment in time  
And it seemed everlasting  
That you would always be mine  
Now you want to be free  
So I'm letting you fly  
Cause I know in my heart babe  
Our love will never die, no_

_You'll always be a part of me  
I'm a part of you indefinitely  
Girl don't you know you can't escape me  
Ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby  
And we'll linger on  
Time can't erase a feeling this strong  
No way you're never gonna shake me  
Ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby…_

What is more, she knows that he means every word he said.

* * *

**A/N: I told you its cliché. Is it good or bad? First time ever that I wrote super duper long one short with 7,144 words, and surprise me like hell.**

** Now all I need is your reviews to tell me that whether this story sucks or this story isn't bad, or anything that you want to say, even hi, just review.**

** Thanks for reading.**

**Loved,**

** -'cleodaze'-**


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